Federal transit funding now rewards cities that deregulate housing
S. 2363 — Build More Housing Near Transit Act of 2025 · Filed by Brian Schatz (D-HI) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 21, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the federal transit capital investment grant program (Section 5309) to reward transit projects that are paired with local housing policies removing regulatory barriers to construction. Transit agencies can earn up to one additional point on a five-point project-rating scale if they document that surrounding areas have eliminated parking minimums, streamlined multi-family housing approvals, reduced lot-size requirements, committed public land to affordable housing, or raised height limits. The bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to consult with HUD to measure whether these policies actually produce affordable housing units.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a rating-point bonus for transit projects in jurisdictions with pro-housing policies. It is not a direct subsidy or mandate, but a competitive advantage mechanism designed to align federal transit investment with local housing deregulation.
What the text implies
- The bonus is discretionary ('may increase') and capped at one point on a five-point scale, limiting its coercive power over local zoning decisions—jurisdictions can still reject housing deregulation and compete on other criteria.
- The bill requires HUD-DOT consultation to measure housing outcomes, but does not mandate that promised housing actually materialize or impose penalties if policies fail to produce units—measurement is advisory, not enforceable.
- By-right approval processes defined in the bill (objective standards, no subjective judgment) may reduce local control over design quality and community character, though they do accelerate housing production.
- The bill does not address whether transit agencies themselves have capacity or incentive to coordinate with local housing policy—the connection is assumed but not guaranteed.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill uses federal transit funding as an incentive to remove local zoning barriers that restrict housing supply and affordability. By rewarding transit projects in jurisdictions with pro-housing policies, it creates pressure to eliminate parking minimums, streamline approvals, and allow denser development—all of which lower housing costs and increase supply. The explicit focus on affordable housing units and the requirement to measure actual housing outcomes (not just policy adoption) provide
Who stands to gain
- Transit agencies in pro-housing jurisdictions (competitive advantage in federal grant awards)
- Real estate developers in jurisdictions adopting pro-housing policies (reduced regulatory burden, fa
- Homebuilders and construction firms (lower compliance costs, streamlined permitting)
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Transportation (Secretary), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Secretary), Section 5309 Capital Investment Grants program, State and local governments, Transit agencies
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jul 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 21, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
6 lobbying clients named this bill on 9 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $10,150,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 23 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 82% of bills with at least one filing.
Brian Schatz, the sponsor, reported $431,697 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- AARP — $5,300,000 on 1 filing
- National Multifamily Housing Council Inc — $1,560,000 on 1 filing
- National Apartment Association — $1,450,000 on 2 filings
- Mortgage Bankers Association — $1,220,000 on 1 filing
- American Land Title Association — $530,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,565 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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